“We put you heavy into the pipeline business because we approved, as you know, the Keystone pipeline and Dakota, but they have to buy, meaning steel, so I’ll say U.S. steel, but steel made in this country and pipelines made in this country.” The requirement to use U.S. steel would create challenges for TransCanada because much of the pipe for its Keystone XL project has already been manufactured. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the companies behind two hotly contested oil pipelines must use U.S. steel in their projects. The Commerce Department has not yet issued a report on the requirement, but Trump on Thursday said the companies behind the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines would “have to buy” pipes made from U.S. steel. Trump told United States Steel CEO Mario Longhi during a meeting of business leaders at the White House.

as informed in

Dakota Access pipeline protest at Bank of America in Amherst calls on customers to move their money to smaller banks

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Dakota Access pipeline protesters block Bank of America entrance in downtown Amherst. At 9 a.m., three protesters describing themselves as “guerrilla theater activists” covered themselves in prop oil and sat under a sign decrying the bank’s funding of the Dakota Access pipeline, a controversial North Dakota energy project. An Amherst Fire Department official spoke briefly with two other demonstrators, telling them that the protest could needlessly tie up public safety resources. The protesters are targeting financial institutions funding the $3.7 billion, 1,200-mile-long pipeline that snakes through four states. “Bank of America directly funds companies … that are knowingly destroying the planet,” said Dineen O’Rourke, of Amherst, who passed out information about how to transfer money from a major bank to a local credit union.